Laevius (died c. 80 BC?) was a Latin poet, of whom practically nothing is known.[1]

The earliest reference to him is perhaps in Suetonius (De grammaticis, 3), though it is not certain that the Laevius Milissus or Melissus there referred to is the same person. Definite references do not occur before the 2nd century (Fronto, Ep. ad ~k~. Caes. i. 3; Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae ii. 24, Xii. 10, XjX. 9 Apuleius, De magia, 30; Porphyrion, Ad Horat. carm. iii. 1, 2).[1]

Some sixty miscellaneous lines are preserved (see Baehrens, Fragm. poet. rom. pp. 287–293), from which it is difficult to see how ancient critics could have regarded him as the master of Ovid or Catullus. Gellius and Ausonius state that he composed an Erotopaegnia, and in other sources he is credited with Adonis, Alcestis, Centaurs, Helena, Ino, Protesilaudamia, Sirenocirca and Phoenix, which may, however, be only the parts of the Erotopaegnia. They were not serious poems, but light and often licentious skits on the heroic myths.[1]

The 5th-century CE Roman writer Macrobius quotes a writer named Laevinus in his Saturnalia, whose identity is unknown. This may be a fragment of Laevius' work as well. In it, he compares Aphrodite to the Moon, in that both are nurturing goddesses and both have elements of gender ambiguity.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Chisholm 1911.
  2. ^ Saturnalia, VIII.II-III

Sources

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  • O. Ribbeck, Geschichte der römischen Dichtung, i.
  • H. de la Ville de Mirmont, Étude biographique et littéraire sur le poète Laevius (Paris, 1900), with critical edition of the fragments, and remarks on vocabulary and syntax
  • A. Weichert, Poetarum latinorum reliquiae (Leipzig, 1830)
  • Pulz, Erik (2023). Laevius – ein altlateinischer Liebesdichter: Studien, Text und Interpretationskommentar (1. Auflage ed.). Berlin Boston: De Gruyter. ISBN 9783111236438.
  • M. Schanz, Geschichte der römischen Literatur (2nd edition), pt. i. p. 163
  • W. Teuffel, Hist. of Roman Literature (Eng. tr.), 150, 4
  • summary in F. Plessis, La Poésie latine (1909), pp. 139–142.
  • Wikisource This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Laevius". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 64.
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Homoerotic themes in Greek and Roman mythology

conceive her as both male and female. Aristophanes calls her Aphroditus, and Laevius says: Worshipping, then, the nurturing god Venus, whether she is male or

Venus (mythology)

Macrobius says that Aristophanes called this figure Aphroditos. The Latin poet Laevius wrote of worshipping "nurturing Venus" whether female or male (sive femina

Sexuality in ancient Rome

cross-dressed, men wearing women's clothes, and women men's. The Latin poet Laevius wrote of worshipping "nurturing Venus" whether female or male (sive femina

Aphroditus

conceive her as both male and female. Aristophanes calls her Aphroditus, and Laevius says: Worshiping, then, the nurturing god Venus, whether she is male or

Longest words

Latin is subductisupercilicarptor, which was coined by the obscure poet Laevius in the 1st century. In Medieval Latin, the longest known word is honorificabilitudinitas

Homosexuality in ancient Rome

cross-dressed, men wearing women's clothes, and women men's. The Latin poet Laevius wrote of worshipping "nurturing Venus" whether female or male (sive femina

Protesilaus

Euripides of which only fragments survive "Protesilaodamia", a lost work of Laevius "carmen 61", "carmen 68", by Catullus "Elegies, to Cynthia", by Propertius

Praenomen

peculiar to the Ager Faliscus. Aemus Aufilus Caesius Gavius Iantus Iuna Laevius Tirrus Vibius Volta Notes: Caesius represents a Faliscan form of Latin